


#8 -- Something New

by idrilhadhafang



Series: 30 Days of Domestic Fluff [8]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Bedtime Stories, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Children, Fairy Tale Style, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren Redemption, M/M, Redeemed Ben Solo, Stormtrooper Children, character death also includes Han and leia, character death is snoke, this got angstier than I expected
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 16:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11339244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Years after the fall of the First Order, Ben and Poe tell their adopted daughter a story.





	#8 -- Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

  
The trip back to the Light has been a long and trying road. And, of course, not without its share of scars. At this rate, Ben wonders if his body is a map of scars. If every scar has its story to tell. The scars are less important than the story behind them, after all.

  
But he’s home. After six years, he’s finally home, and he knows it’s where he belongs. For the first time in a while, a too long while, he belongs somewhere.

  
Sam Windu – formerly FN-2187, formerly Finn –has been working to get the stormtrooper children freed. He’s overjoyed with every new development that rises, every new child freed and either returned to their families or having found a home. He and Jaina – formerly Rey – have adopted some, in addition to the children they’ve already had. Ben knows they’ll do beautifully. Jaina won’t abandon them as her mother abandoned her. And he and Poe, who have adopted as well, won’t abandon their own children as Ben’s mother abandoned him.

  
They’ve named the stormtrooper girl they’ve adopted Shara, after Poe’s mother. It seems like an appropriate enough name, at least. Honoring the dead. Ben definitely has his share of names he wants to give to each child. Han. Alora. Leia. Just to name three. Honoring the dead.

  
It’s at bedtime that Shara asks for a story. A story, to be more precise, about Ben and Poe. Even as they tuck her in, she asks about how Ben and Poe met. Ben pauses; they’ll have to tell her about what he did as Kylo Ren at one point in the story. He won’t wait to tell her the truth, when she’s the same age that he was when Casterfo revealed the truth in a way that was too big for Ben to take. He’ll tell her, in a way that she can take. Little bits, appropriate for a four year old.

  
For now, he can tell her about the prince and his pilot, about the adventures that they had when they were only children. And older. He takes a deep breath. “Well,” he said, “Once upon a time, in our galaxy, there was a prince, the son of war heroes. The prince was terribly lonely, except for two friends of his. One was an evil wizard, who infiltrated the prince’s uncle’s kingdom under the guise of being a friend. The other was a little boy who wanted to be a pilot…”

  
And as Ben tells his story, he’s lost in the familiar memories all over again, painful and sweet at the same time. Shara listens intently, clearly fascinated by their adventures. Ben talks about the times they explored the Yavin IV jungles with Thomas and Annie, and how he and Poe fell in love when they were older. He talks also about, in age-appropriate words, how Snoke persuaded him to join him.

  
“The prince did terrible things in the name of what the wizard called justice, yet the pilot never stopped looking for him no matter what. When the pilot found him again, he had a scavenger, a former member of the wizard’s army, and the prince’s uncle with him. It took a while, but they saved the prince, and even the wizard admitted that he was wrong in the end as he lay dying. The prince and his pilot returned home…”

  
“And did they live happily ever after?” Shara says.

  
“Yes, Shara,” Ben says. “They did.”

  
Shara goes silent. Then, “All this happened to you?”

  
“All of it.”

  
“Wow!”

  
“Yeah.” That’s one way to put it, Ben thinks. “Wow.”

  
It’s long after they get Shara to sleep that Ben and Poe head out of the room. Then Ben speaks. “How’d I do?”

  
“Beautifully. Though you’re not just a prince to me.”

  
“And you’re no ordinary pilot.” Ben kisses him. They’re both tired out and ready for bed. Poe smiles and kisses him back.

  
“I love you, angel,” Poe says, and Ben muses as to how long it’s been since Poe’s used that endearment. He swallows, blinks a little.

  
“Hey,” Poe says. “Don’t cry.”

  
“It’s just been a while since you called me that.”

  
Poe smiles. “You were always my angel, Ben. Always.”


End file.
